LORAIN — Ash Wednesday marks the first day of Lent, and the season of repentance for Catholics worldwide.

But it also literally marks the followers of Christ as millions celebrate Mass and receive an ash-drawn cross on their foreheads. Receiving ashes is not a sacrament, but is more of a liturgical ritual steeped in tradition.

According to the Rev. Daniel Divis, pastor of St. Mary Church, 309 W. Seventh Street, the tradition of placing ashes on people dates back to the Middle Ages.

“In the Middle Ages, penance was a very public act,” Divis said. “People would literally wear sackcloth and ashes would be poured over their heads.”

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In Rome, ashes are traditionally sprinkled over the heads of Catholics, while in the United States, it is common practice to make a cross on parishioners’ foreheads, he said.

“This all goes back to the Old Testament,” Divis said of acts of repentance. “Repentance was a symbolic public act of being apart from the community because of sin and needing forgiveness from the community.”

St. Mary Church makes its own ashes every year by burning Palm Sunday’s leftover palms the Monday before Ash Wednesday. Parishioners gather in the back of the church, light the palms and watch the smoke rise to the ceiling.

Noreene Rosso, 77, was baptized, married and attended 12 years of school at St. Mary Church. For her, Ash Wednesday is a reminder of where she plans to go when she leaves the parish.

“It is a reminder that I will be going back to see the Lord and I need to repent and start doing what the Lord would like me to do,” Rosso said.

Ron Maxwell, 71, wasn’t always a Catholic. The former Methodist converted when he married his wife, Barbara, in 1990.

Maxwell, who is active with St. Mary Church as a eucharistic minister and choir member, said Ash Wednesday is the beginning of the Holy Season, but also a time to be with fellow believers.

“We’ll be coming to Mass and also going to lunch and dinner with the church,” he said.

Barbara Maxwell said Ash Wednesday is always a reminder of her faith in God and his son Jesus.

“It’s the beginning of Lent, but also a time to pay more attention to God and spend more time in prayer and silence,” she said. “It’s time to become closer to the Lord.”

Divis said Ash Wednesday’s gospel reading is an irony because the gospel used on this day says that prayer and acts of worship should be done in secret.

“We take these ashes and put them on our foreheads and it is like a big glaring sign,” Divis said. “I like the idea of sprinkling the ashes over the head, but don’t do it, because people like the tradition of placing the ashes on foreheads.”

And it is no coincidence ashes, which are dead and dry, mark the beginning of Lent, he said. It is another symbol tied to new life, because by the end of Lent it is Easter, spring and time to celebrate the risen Christ.

“Lent is the season of repentance and reflection,” Divis said. “And hopefully growing more deeply in our relationship with God, each other and the church.”